The Difference is Black and White
What If Black People Chose Their Own Heroes?
Saturday University
Sunday University
70% of Black Male Dropouts Projected for Prision
What Black Parents Must Do This Summer
The Difference Is 
Black and White
Please  Click Here to see how many White people receive traffic tickets.


Please Click Here to see how Sandra Bland and many Blacks receive traffic tickets. 


The difference is Black and White!
What If...Black people could choose their own teachers and their own heroes?
ImageI saw this headline recently, and it stirred a strong emotion within me that was a combination frustration, anger, despair and sadness.  Here is the complete question:

"What if Black people could choose their own teachers and their own heroes?  What if Black people could focus on finance and institution-building rather than sports and entertainment?  What if Black people taught their children about their history and culture rather than the distractions and diversions of our society?"  -  The Black Star Project
 

There was a time in our history when this is exactly what we did.  How did we forget?  How did we lose our way?

  • There was a time when we chose our own teachers and heroes:
    - Our schools were named after Frederick Douglass; and Paul Lawrence Dunbar; and Carter G. Woodson; and Robert Russa Moton; and Maggie L. Walker; and Joseph Littles; and Mary McCloud Bethune; and George Washington Carver; and Booker T. Washington; and W.E.B. Du Bois; and Jean Baptiste Dusable, and many others.
  • There was a time when there were more Black-owned insurance companies and banks; retail stores and builders, plumbers, electricians, and craftsmen who served our communities; and Black Wall Street in the Greenwood district of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
  • There was a time when our HBCUs prepared our best and brightest to compete on the global stage -- producing lawyers, doctors, engineers, judges, teachers, preachers, and business leaders.
  • There was a time when parents and grandparents taught their children about our history of struggle for dignity and equality in this country, even though we were separated from our African culture.
  • There was a time when our community leaders were not distracted by diversions, but keenly focused on preparing our children to lead future generations to a better life in America. We were told to "represent our community" whenever we left home.

The real question for those who are asking "What if?" is "What happened?"  How did we let so much of the progress of our people slip away?


 
How did once proud HBCUs become a shell of themselves struggling for survival? How is it that Black children don't know who the heroes of our struggle are? Why are Black teachers marginalized and ineffective?  Why are we distracted by bling, sports and entertainment?  Where are the "young, gifted and Black" that Nina Simone sang about? Why are education, employment, and wealth gaps increasing?

 

What if, indeed.  

We don't need to dream about something that is beyond our grasp.  We need to remember the lessons our forefathers taught us during the dark days of slavery, and the Jim Crow era that spawned the Black Civil Rights movement.  We need to restore what has been lost.

 

We have come to a state where our focus is #BlackLiveMatter.  I want to restore the days of "I'm Black and I'm Proud."

 

Roger Madison, CEO
iZania, LLC

At The Black Star Project, on Saturday mornings, young Black men and women are learning and mastering their place in the world.
The Black Star Project's Saturday University 
Young men perform a writing exercise.
A teacher listens to young men read.
Young women practice reading.
Our Summer classes are full.  Please call 773.285.9600 to register your children for fall Saturday University classes. 
Call The Black Star Project 
If You Are A Man or Woman 
in the Chicago Area
Who Wants To Become An
Electrician

You must have a valid driver's license, be drugfree, have proof of citizenship, have a social security card, be at least 17 years old, pass a basic skills and academic test, be in good physical shape, clear a background check,  and a have a letter of recommendation from The Black Star Project.  There are limited slots available for an August 17, 2015 orientation by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.  

Please call 773.285.9600 today for this limited opportunity

Questions: What if Black people could choose their own teachers and their own heroes?  What if Black people could focus on finance and institution-building rather than sports and entertainment?  What if Black people taught their children about their history and culture rather than the distractions and diversions of our society? Then you would have: 

The Sunday University
Kamm Howard - (centered, seated) Professor of African-Centered Thinking, Logic and Action with participants of Sunday University Lecture on Reparations on July 26, 2015
----------------------------------------------------------------
Learn about Banking, Personal Finance and Money: Theory and Practice.  Young people will receive cash money to open interest bearing saving accounts at a later date.  Join us on Sunday, August 2, 2015 
Otis Monroe - Professor of Banking Theory 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Learn that Health Is Wealth and 
How to Keep It for a Life Time, Sunday, August 9, 2015
Dr. Paul L. Hannah - Professor of Healing Energy

All classes of 
The Sunday University 
will take place on 
Sundays
2:30 pm to 4:00 pm
after church, mosque or temple
at
The Black Star Project
3509 South King Drive
Chicago, Illinois

Please call 773.285.9600 to RSVP, for more information or to create a Sunday University in your city. 
 
Study: Black Male High-School Dropouts Have High Prison Risk

Research shows 70% have a 

chance of going to prison


By Courtney Connley 
May 10, 2014

A new study from the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project shows alarming statistics about the prison risk that African American men who do not complete high school face.

 

With data that shows the cumulative risk of imprisonment for men by age 30-34, the study shows that black men born between 1975-79 who are in their 30s now, and without a high school diploma, have a 70 percent chance of going to prison.

 

To take things a little further, the data also shows that African American children born to high school dropout fathers have a 50 percent chance of seeing their father incarcerated by their fourteenth birthday.

 

These alarming statistics should serve as a wake up call, with continued reports showing that the country's achievement gap still exists and that despite a national high graduation rate, only 69 percent of African American students are actually graduating high school.

 

In addition to low graduation rates, it's also evident that racial discrimination exist within the American criminal justice system, with studies showing that more blacks are likely to be arrested and convicted of a crime than their white counterparts. In 2011, black teens were amongst the lowest minority group to abuse drugs, yet studies from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention show that in the same year approximately 600,000 black teens were arrested for drug abuse compared to approximately 400,000 white teens.

 

Earlier this week, Dr. Cornel West spoke in Albany, NY at a rally against solitary confinement and according to Democracy Now he touched on the racial disparities that exist within the criminal justice system saying, "Solitary confinement is torture, and it's a crime against humanity to lock folks up when 60 percent of them are there for soft drugs, and everybody knows 12 percent of those are on the chocolate side, 12 percent of those are on the vanilla side of flying high in the friendly skies every week taking drugs, but 65 percent of the convictions are chocolate."

WHAT BLACK PARENTS MUST DO THIS SUMMER

 

BY: DR. JAWANZA KUNJUFU

July 22, 2014

 

Dr. Jawanza Kunjjufu

There is a 3 year gap between Black and White students. Many people love to believe it's due to income, fatherlessness, educational attainment of the parent and lack of parental involvement. I believe a major reason for the gap is we continue to close schools for the summer as if we are an agrarian economy. Very few Black youth will be farming this summer. If you multiply 3 months by 12 years you will see the 3 year gap. There is nothing wrong with Black youth if their schools remained open during the summer and/or their parents kept them academically engaged.

 

Middle-income parents who value education enroll their children in some type of academic experience during the summer. They also visit libraries, museums, zoos and colleges. Other parents allow their children to sleep longer, play more video games, watch more television and play basketball until they can't see the hoop. These students will have to review the same work they had mastered in May in September.

 

Black parents cannot allow their child to lose 3 months every year. Black parents cannot say they cannot afford the library. It's free! Most museums have discounted days. A male friend of mine shared his experience with me when he took his family to the museum. He wondered why so many people were staring at him. His wife and children had to tell him he was the only Black man in the building! I am appealing to every father to take his children this summer to the library, museum, and the zoo. I am appealing to every mother if he won't, you will.

 

We need every parent to make sure their child reads at least one book per week and to write a book report. I am reminded of the formula Sonya Carson used to develop Ben Carson to become the best pediatric neurosurgeon. This low-income single parent, with a third grade education, had enough sense to tell her sons to turn off the television, read a book and write a report that her sister would grade!

 

I have a theory that I can go into your house and within 5 minutes tell you the type of student who lives there and predict their future. I believe that engineers, doctors, lawyers, accountants etc. need different items in their house than ballplayers, rappers, and criminals. 

 

I am very concerned when I visit a house that has more cd's and downloads than books. My company African American Images has designed a special collection of books for boys. Research shows one of the major reasons boys dislike reading is because of the content. 

 

The set is titled Best Books for Boys. We also have one for girls, parents and teachers. Enjoy your summer. Let's close the gap. I look forward to your child's teacher asking your child what did you do for the summer? And your child answering we went to the library, museum, zoo, colleges and other great educational places..

Ask Your Schools, Your Faith Institutions, Your Governments to Join the 2015 Million Father March 



Click Here to Register for the 2015  Million Father March 
Click Here  to see if your city has signed up for The 2015 Million Father March
Click Here to Learn More about the Million Father March or call 773.285.9600.